[b said:
Quote[/b] (PDX @ Oct. 13 2004,3:06)]So…. This brings us back to the ABG and their protection of a leuco stand. I would like for someone in the area to let the group as a whole know the plans for this plant. I agree that protection should be the number one objective.
PDX,
I can answer some of your questions right now.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Maybe someone could talk with them and find out what their program truly is.
First off, are you an ICPS member? If you are read the article about S. purp montana. The ABG is performing a similar operation with the GA leuco. That should at least enlighten you as to there plan
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]How long have they been the steward of this site?
I do not know how long they have been stewards to the site but I personally fail to see how this is relevant. The point is that they are working to protect it and keep it viable. Exactly what a steward should do.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Are they growing specimens in their greenhouses as well as the site?
Yes, they are growing specimens at ABG. I said that in my earlier post.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Have they, or do they plan to, share the plant with other botanical gardens?
Yes, they have shared this plant with other institutions.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Why don’t they tissue culture the plant? Hundreds of thousands of this particular plant available at the retail level for $3.00 - $5.00 would seem to me to make the actual site that much more secure.
Because as a conservation organization they are not interested in making a quick buck. Their goal is to stabilize and maintain the wild stand. The details of how they do this are in the S. montana article. TC does not enter into the equation because you can not introduce TC'd plants back into the wild.
I would also add that to look at the GA leuco you would probably not be able to tell it from any other typical leuco so putting it into TC would likely flop because no one would want to put "just another leuco" into TC when there are already so many out there?
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Are there really plans to release this plant to the hobbyist?
I can not say, I have never asked. It seems to me that that should be ABGs decision and not something pushed on them by the community at large.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]If so, what is their timeframe like?
Again, that is for them to decide.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]It seems to me the longer they keep this plant to themselves the odds of something along the lines of the Kew Gardens mistake become more possible.
Point of clarification it is not a single plant that we are talking about it is a population. A single person is not going to cause the out and out death of all the plants through a screw up like at Kew. And even if some new employee of ABG did water all the CPs with tapwater it would not matter because that is what they use anyways. Here in Atlanta we are lucky like that.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]If the site is as small as it sounds, even guarded 24 hours a day it sounds like a very precarious situation on many levels.
I can not tell you how large or small the site is or how well protected it is. But I can tell you that the only people who know about it are ABG and what ever branch of the government controls that plot of land. And it is pretty much a fact that the fewer people that know about the site the easier it is to keep it safe.
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]A final thought could be that if they have no program in place to ensure this plant’s survival beyond “their” site, does this not differ much from a “greedy” collector hoarding a plant?
It is not "greedy" it is called conservation. The goal of their program is to ensure the stability and genetics of the stand. It is about the wild Georgia leuco wild.
You talk about not dividing it all into black and white but that is just what you have done here. ABG is black and the hobbyists are white. Look at it this way: What is the best way to ensure that the endangered black rhino does not go extinct? Do you limit access and breeding of the black rhino to people who know what they are doing or do you hand out black rhinos to everyone that says they want one? I would think the answer was pretty obvious.
What seems to be getting looked over is that conservation is different than preservation. Everyone is saying that the best way to conserve the population is to get as many plants in cultivation as possible. That is absolutly false!! That is preservation. Sure putting a plant into cultivation means that even if the wild stand die that the plant is not totally lost. but 10,000 copies of the same plant is worthless. Inbreeding works the same way with plants and a limited genetic pool just leads to sickly weak offspring. You can not re-introduce domestic strains back into the wild they are not fit to survive. Look at it this way, consider a wild caught mouse and a lab raised mouse. You take them and toss them out into a field. The lab raised mouse is going to die. No ifs. No ands. No buts. It is the same with plants, none of the plants in your collection would survive when placed in the hyper-competative environment of the real world. Conservation is about keeping things stable. It is about preventing loss or injury. It is the careful management of the environment and nature. That is what ABG is doing, careful managment. I cannot believe that their ethics are being questioned.